


The Pros and Cons of Forever

by Ink_Gypsy



Series: Lucky Clover Diner Universe [44]
Category: (AU) - Fandom, The Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: M/M, Sean Astin/Elijah Wood - Freeform, challenge fics, fffc, lucky clover diner universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:06:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22206091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ink_Gypsy/pseuds/Ink_Gypsy
Summary: After watchingHighlander, Sean and Elijah discuss what it would be like to be immortal.
Relationships: Sean Astin/Elijah Wood
Series: Lucky Clover Diner Universe [44]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/592381
Kudos: 3





	The Pros and Cons of Forever

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Frodo Flash Fiction Community on Live Journal and Dreamwidth. The challenge: immortality.

[ ](https://imgur.com/YdbEKlK)

It was almost November, finally getting cooler, which made Sean happy to spend their nights after work at home, but it didn’t keep him from wondering why Elijah hadn’t grown tired of the two of them spending all their time together, first at work, and then at home. The age difference was always there in the back of his mind, but it didn’t seem to bother Elijah, so Sean was determined to banish it from his thoughts, though it was never totally gone. He’d resigned himself to being a homebody, but had never expected someone Elijah’s age to be satisfied with spending every evening at home. And yet he seemed to feel that way, at least for now.

Elijah enjoyed playing computer games, but Sean had introduced him to old-fashioned 3-D games like _Scrabble_ , _Boggle_ and _Monopoly_ , which they played often, but while Elijah seemed to enjoy them, their favorite after-dinner pastime was still cuddling up on the couch together, watching a movie, either on air, or from Sean’s DVD and BluRay collections. The film they’d chosen to watch tonight was the original _Highlander_ starring Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery. When Elijah said it was one of his favorites movies, Sean had assumed it was because he enjoyed all of the gruesome swordplay, so as they watched the credits roll, he was surprised when Elijah exclaimed, “Can you imagine what it would be like to be immortal, Sean? Wouldn’t you want to live forever if you could?”

Sean cocked his head as he thought about the question. “I’d have to consider all the pros and cons before making a final decision.”

“Are you kidding?” Elijah asked incredulously. “You never get old. You never get sick.” He ticked off the points on his fingers as he spoke “If you get hurt, you heal right away. And it goes on forever. I don’t see anything bad there, Sean, only good.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Sean replied. “Look at Connor MacLeod in the film we just watched. He’s going to live forever, but only if he keeps his wits about him. He has to spend his entire life looking over his shoulder, waiting for the next guy who’s going to try to lop off his head. It’s hard to enjoy life when you spend every moment trying to keep from being murdered.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think about that part of it.” Elijah considered. “What about vampires? They live forever after they’re turned.”

“Technically they’re not alive anymore,” Sean corrected. “I guess you could say they’re reborn, but at a great cost. They never get to enjoy the sun again after they’re turned, plus they have to drink the blood of the living in order to continue their new existence. It’s not a life I’d choose.”

Determined to come up with something Sean would find good about immortality, Elijah asked, “What about that guy Dorian Gray, the one with the portrait in the attic?”

Sean looked surprised. “You know _The Picture of Dorian Gray_?”

“We had to read it in school. Don’t tell me you have a problem with him.”

“Well he wasn’t in danger of losing his head and he didn’t drink other people’s blood, but he had to keep on doing bad things to other people so his portrait would continue to age and he would remain young.”

Elijah sighed. “I guess everything costs something, whether we realize it or not.”

“My grandfather used to say there was no free lunch,” Sean said with a grin, “but it wasn’t something he put into practice. If someone came into the diner and couldn’t pay for a meal, Grandpa would never send them away hungry.”

“I bet he’d have been proud to know you always do the same thing,” Elijah told him.

“I’d like to think he would.”

“So you don’t see _anything_ good about immortality?” Elijah asked.

“I didn’t say that,” Sean protested. “Each new century will bring so many changes. Alterations in government. Medical breakthroughs. Technical and scientific advances. Then there’s the arts. Seeing new works of art become masterpieces as the centuries pass. Reading new novels and watching them become literary classics after a hundred years. Seeing the changing styles in movies and music. And just imagine being there to see all these things as they happen.”

“And none of that changes your mind about living forever?” Elijah asked. When Sean shook his head, Elijah blurted out, “Why the fuck not?”

“Because no matter how extraordinary being there while those things were happening would be, none of them would make up for the hardest thing I’d have to endure if I lived forever.”

“What’s that?” Elijah wondered.

“The loneliness.”

“The loneliness?” Elijah’s brow furrowed in puzzlement. “I don’t understand.”

“Think about it,” Sean suggested. “You stay young and strong while everyone around you grows old and eventually dies. Everyone you know, including the person you love, will be gone, and you’ll be alone. Of course you can make new friends, and maybe if you’re lucky enough you’ll fall in love again, but in time you’ll suffer the same losses over and over again, and I doubt no matter how many times it happens it will hurt less than it did the first time. I don’t think I could go through that kind of pain throughout eternity, no matter how many wonders I’d get to experience in return.”

From the somber look on Elijah’s face, it was obvious he hadn’t considered that aspect of immortality. He slipped his arms around Sean’s neck. “I wouldn’t want to live forever if you weren’t there with me, Sean,” he said softly, lifting himself up and into Sean’s lap. He tucked his head under Sean’s chin.

“I feel the same way, my love.” Sean kissed his hair. “We might not get to live forever, but we can still be as happy as we can for as long as we can.”

Elijah pulled Sean’s face down to his and placed his lips on his lover’s in a gentle kiss. “If you’d been his lover, Freddie Mercury would have wanted to live forever,” he declared, referring to one of the Queen songs on the _Highlander_ soundtrack, _Who Wants To Live Forever?_

Touched by the compliment, Sean returned the kiss then told Elijah, “As much as I’d love to share forever with you, since one lifetime is all we get, it will have to be enough.”

Elijah nodded. “If one lifetime is all we get, we’ll have to do our best to make it count.”

“We will,” Sean agreed, “every day.” He held Elijah close. “And especially every night.”


End file.
